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Take that, Michele!Weezer is coming out with a new album soon (recording starts late this summer or fall) -- and it sounds like this one is going in a more "Pinkerton" direction. They're also releasing an expanded edition of the "Blue Album". This.....I can't =w=ait for!

UPDATE: I just told Todd about the Blue Album expanded release, and he replied, "I wonder what that means?" My reply? "Another twenty bucks I'm spending." Well, am I wrong?
posted at 11:15 AM | link--it | mail it
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When I look in the mirror
I can't believe what I see
Tell me, who's that funky dude
Staring back at me
Broken, beaten down
Can't even get around
Without an old-man cane
I fall and hit the ground
Shivering in the cold
I'm bitter and alone

Excuse the bitchin'
I shouldn't complain
I should have no feeling
'Cuz feeling is pain
As everything I need
Is denied me
And everything I want
Is taken away from me
But who do I got to blame?
Nobody but me...

And I don't wanna be an old man anymore
It's been a year or two since I was out on the floor
Shaking booty, making sweet love all the night
It's time I got back to the good life
It's time I got back, it's time I got back
And I don't even know how I got off the track
I wanna go back, yeah!

Screw this crap, I've had it!I've had it!
I ain't no Mr. Cool
I'm a pig, I'm a dog
So excuse me if I drool
I ain't gonna hurt nobody
Ain't gonna cause a scene
Just need to admit
That I want sugar in my tea
Hear me?
(Hear me)
I want sugar in my tea!

I don't wanna be an old man anymore
It's been a year or two since I was out on the floor
Shaking booty, making sweet love all the night
It's time I got back to the good life
It's time I got back, it's time I got back
And I don't even know how I got off the track
I wanna go back, yeah!

I wanna go back, I wanna go back
And I don't even know how I got off the track
It's time I got back, it's time I got back
And I don't even know how I got off the track
I wanna go back, yeah!

And I don't wanna be an old man anymore
It's been a year or two since I was out on the floor
Shaking booty, making sweet love all the night
It's time I got back to the good life
It's time I got back, it's time I got back
And I don't even know how I got off the track
It's time I got back, it's time I got back
And I don't even know how I got off the track
I wanna go back (I wanna go back)...

Some people may see the rest of us as "in a tizzy" over this. But I like to think the fact I can hurt, feel, empathize and sympathize in this situation makes me human. And also American*. (*please note: no foreigners were intentionally harmed in the making of this entry)

I have a close friend who's husband didn't make it home until several hours after he was supposed to be home this past week. The fear, and tears, in her voice as she couldn't reach him by cell phone are etched in our brains. If Todd is even 30 minutes late, my stomach is tied up in knots until he walks through the door. That momentary fear we all face now and again is a daily fear for the families of these astronauts and pilots. In the event of danger, the heavens and skies are much less forgiving than our local roads and Interstates -- no matter what the side-by-side accident rate comparison numbers may be. If you've ever feared for a loved one's return, just take a second to imagine what it would be like to be sitting in a public grandstand with all eyes -- and cameras -- on you, expecting a triumphant reunion. And just off to the side, a larger than life countdown clock ticking down every one-hundredth of a second until their arrival. And then that moment coming...and going...still ticking off every second they will never be home again.

Rather than make a large tribute to every astronaut on the mission, which has been done so eloquently elsewhere (better than I ever could), I'm going to take a second to honor Commander William C. McCool. He wasn't just a national hero. He was a husband. A dad. And a huge Weezer fan, just like me. He even took the Blue Album up with him on this mission. But for 11 years in age difference, I could have known him. I dated a Naval Academy graduate and pilot. I also dated another Naval pilot for two years during and briefly post-college. That was not the path I was to take in life. But putting myself, even for just a split-second, in the roles of the wives left waiting in the stands yesterday really made me stop and think about the directions our lives take. And because I can put a face, personality and "might have been" to this name -- well, tizzy it is.

I've been a fan of the Shuttle program since the very first launch. I would mail away for the mission packets and astronaut photos as a child. I tried in vain to watch Eileen Collins launch in Columbia and become the first female Shuttle commander in space. I wrote for VIP passes two years ahead of the launch hoping to watch that historic event in person. Unfortunately we were there for both scrub attempts (this one scrubbed just 6.5 seconds before liftoff), and my health took a nosedive before we could watch it launch in person the third, and final attempt. We did see Columbia on the launchpad twice for both scrub attempts, however. I had to settle for watching it go up from our apartment complex's parking lot. But we did get to use our second set of VIP passes for the launch of STS-92 on 10.11.2000, which also happened to be the 100th shuttle mission. It's one of the most incredible things I have ever seen. You may not realize that we can see the launches and landings from over here on the Gulf coast in Tampa Bay, but we can. However, NOTHING compares to being at the Cape just a mile away from the launch pad. It's something everyone should experience at least once in their lives.

And for the sake of the seventeen astronauts we've now lost in the line of duty, I hope for their sakes the program will come back stronger and better than ever before! I believe they all would want it that way.
posted at 02:11 AM | link--it | mail it
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Saturday, February 1, 2003

Silence.And prayers. And now that it's apparent all are lost, tears...

(The reason I followed this particular mission even more closely than usual.)

UPDATE: Out of respect to the astronauts and families, my blog will be silent the remainder of the weekend. If you're looking for frequent news updates and possible scientific explanations, please visit samizdata.net.
posted at 11:04 AM | link--it | mail it
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